concerns

They’re not there yet, however; first, they’re going to send James Gorman a strongly worded letter and make a decision based on his response. They do sound pretty miffed though, so God help the guy if his answer is anything but “I’ve got my tool kit and I’m on the way over.”

Several dozen Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisers who manage tens of billions of dollars of client money are considering leaving the firm, saying that widespread technology problems have made it very difficult for them to do their jobs, according to people familiar with the matter. The group has hired a lawyer to argue that they should be able to keep lucrative retention payments even if they quit, and they have also drafted a letter to Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman outlining their concerns, though the letter has not yet been sent, the sources said.

Rebecca Rothstein, one of the firm’s top advisers based in Beverly Hills, spoke to him on the group’s behalf, two sources familiar with the conversation said. Rothstein, who is close to Gorman and not part of the group, told him about the difficulties advisers and their clients are having – from trading delays and problems with foreign currency transactions to inaccurate account statements and bounced checks – and warned the group was planning to quit, one of the sources said…Morgan Stanley spokesman James Wiggins said the firm was aware that brokers have been voicing complaints about the new technology, but did not know anything about this specific group of advisers. “No such letter has been sent to management and no mass exodus has been threatened,” he said. “Management’s door is always open to discuss with any concerns they may have.”

The more frequently you monitor your portfolio, the more likely you are to observe a loss. This is likely to cause short-sighted decisions and could hurt your investment performance. If you are checking your portfolio more than once per quarter, you’re doing it too much.